


quite fetching

by carltzmann



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crushes, Dogs, Getting Together, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-20 03:42:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20221219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carltzmann/pseuds/carltzmann
Summary: Phil likes to take his dog on walks around the neighborhood. Dan works at the local elementary school.





	quite fetching

**Author's Note:**

> yes, the title is a dog pun. yes, I googled it.

Phil spent long days at university and the workload, while enjoyable, was thoroughly exhausting. So the part of his day that he loved most was walking his fluffy golden retriever, Mister, around his neighborhood, switching off his brain and enjoying time with his dog.  
  
It was a Tuesday, and Phil was yawning loudly as he attached the leash to Mister. Daylight savings time had hit him hard, his normally atrocious sleeping hours shortening even further. But he still felt an obligation to his dog and to his own routine to walk a bit every day, so he didn't resent the decision to walk out the door at 4 that day.   
  
After around 15 minutes, his usual walking time, the sun was still high in the sky, so he decided to walk further than usual. The local elementary school near his home had a nice track that he remembered vaguely and he hoped there wouldn't be many kids left playing outside. Phil's dog loved people, but sometimes he got too excited around hyper children and Phil wanted to avoid any uncomfortable situations.  
  
So, he rounded the corner into the long path outlining the playground. Luckily, there were only a few people still out playing. He heard a bell clanging and watched as the children walked inside, guided by some college students who helped out there. There were only two people left: an obscenely tall man with dark, wavy hair, and a young girl in a big coat, both on the swing set.  
  
"Mr. Dan, can we stay out longer please?" Phil overheard the girl say.  
  
"Of course, Ari. Like usual," Dan replied easily. They seemed to drift into an easy silence and Phil smiled. It was small, pleasant moments like those that made him enjoy walking around town.  
  
Phil walked around the path away from the playground, so the two stragglers didn't see him and his dog until a couple minutes later, when he had completed the lap around the small soccer fields. He saw the little girl notice him and immediately tug on the older guy's jacket, saying something pleading.  
  
Dan then turned and noticed Phil and his dog as well. He smiled. "Let's ask the man, first."  
  
He walked boldly to Phil, who stopped in his track and smiled amicably. "Can we pet your dog? He's _so_ cute."  
  
"Of course!" Phil responded. Dan squatted next to Mister's face and pet his back softly, while Ari pet him on the head with robotic, child-like movements.  
  
"What's his name?" The man's face looking up at Phil was so pretty and soft. His smile dimpled his cheek and a light blush dusted his nose.  
  
"Mister," Phil answered, immediately scolding himself for sounding (and probably looking) stupidly smitten. But hey, he was a cooped up university student who rarely had time for any romantic or sexual interactions, so who could blame him.  
  
"Oh my _God_," Dan exclaimed, and Phil was worried that something bad had happened because of the urgent tone, but he followed with, "that is the best name for a dog I have _ever heard_."  
  
Phil beamed with pride. "Thanks, I came up with it myself."  
  
"It's so cute," he muttered. "What's your name, then? Is it better than Mister?"  
  
"Phil, so unfortunately not. What about you?"  
  
"I'm Dan," he said with a smile, shaking Phil's hand. "I work here after school in a weak effort to pay off my student loans."  
  
Conversation. Okay. Phil didn't expect to get this far. "I'm at university as well! What are you studying?"  
  
"Philosophy, at the moment. It's fascinating, but it's kind of guaranteeing me to a life of pretentiousness and poverty, unfortunately. What about you?" Dan's tone was light and easy and he was effortlessly funny. Hot and funny and good with kids and dogs???? Phil needed to pinch himself to confirm he wasn't dreaming, but then he might wake up, and he didn't want to do that when this was far sweeter.  
  
"Post-production in film. Also something that will probably end up completely useless, but it is really enjoyable. It's nice to be doing things that I'm really passionate about, although the workload is super tedious. I've got this massive project at the moment, and I love it, but it involves a lot of boring computer stuff and not much actual creativity."  
  
Dan nodded. "Oh yeah? What's it about?"  
  
Phil didn't have time to respond before Ari was tugging gently at Dan's jacket again.  
  
"Mr. Dan, can we go inside?" she said softly.   
  
"Of course, Ari!" Dan replied, turning back to Phil and smiling apologetically. "Hopefully I'll see you and Mister around?"  
  
Phil nodded (a bit too) enthusiastically. "Totally!" He planned to make good on his word.  
  
  
  
For the next two days, Phil forced himself to turn in early from his walks to work on a massive project he was working on involving horror films. It felt like torture to turn away from the elementary school and possibly miss seeing Dan again, but he had greater responsibilities.   
  
However, on Friday he was unable to resist the temptation anymore, and he turned around the corner and down the path that would eventually (hopefully) lead to Dan.  
  
There were still quite a few kids out today, since Phil had left earlier than last time, so he didn't see Dan immediately, but he was significantly taller than everyone around him, so Phil was able to find him on the swings again.  
  
Still, he tortured himself with a walk around the entire path before he passed the playground and Dan saw him and Mister.  
  
"Oh, hey!" Dan called, standing up from the swing and walking over to Phil, Ari not far behind him. "You came back!"  
  
"Yeah, I figured I could swing by the playground again," Phil said, feigning nonchalance despite the fact that Dan recognizing him made butterflies erupt in his stomach. "How are you and Ari here?"  
  
Dan was already kneeling next to Mister. "So good!" But it seemed to be mostly directed to the dog as he said it in a baby voice and kept all his attention on Mister. Ari began to pet him as well and Phil smiled.  
  
This time Dan was wearing a soft-looking brown sweater and his wavy hair was fluffier, the wind sprawling it across his forehead. He looked simultaneously incredibly cute and intimidatingly hot, and Phil might actually be developing a proper crush.  
  
Dan stood up abruptly and said, "So how's that project going?"  
  
"Oh! You remembered that?" Phil said, astonished, before realizing he was putting Dan in a pretty awkward situation.   
  
Dan seemed flustered and Phil felt completely socially inept. "Yeah, I guess. I don't meet many cool guys with amazing dog-naming skills who are also in film at university."  
  
"Really? Clearly you need to get out more," Phil joked.  
  
"Honestly, I know you're joking, but I seriously never leave the house. It's an actual problem. Unless I'm in class or making money, I'm in my dorm 24/7," Dan complained.  
  
"That's the best thing about having a dog. You have an immediate obligation to another living creature. Plus, you get to meet cool guys who study philosophy and work at elementary schools in their free time," Phil ventured.  
  
Blushing! Actual blushing! Phil was undoubtedly reading too much into this whole conversation and Dan was probably straight anyway, but again, he was a cooped up university student. He was allowed to have fantasies about hot guys he met. "How many of those do you know?"  
  
"They're a dime a dozen in this neighborhood," Phil said with a sly smile, and Dan giggled.  
  
Before Dan could respond, Phil felt an abrupt pull on the leash. He muttered expletives under his breath as he realized he was being pulled by Mister, who was chasing a squirrel across the empty soccer fields. "Gotta go!" Phil managed to cry out before he chased Mister (who had managed to break the leash free from Phil's grip) across the grass.  
  
When Mister finally ended his impromptu high-speed chase, Phil gathered him in his arms and pet him before standing again and sighing. "Mister, we might have been actually flirting, and you ruined it!" Mister wagged his tail obliviously, and Phil gave another sigh. His dog was unfortunately very hard to hate.  
  
  
For the weekend, the elementary school was completely empty (trust Phil. He checked.) and Phil was forced to wait two whole days before he got to even hope to see Dan again. On Monday, he was raring to go, but he still waited until 4 to leave, hoping to catch Dan more alone and without the fear of overwhelming kids trying to pet Mister.  
  
Dan caught him before he was able to walk the whole lap around the playground, though. He was at the small basketball court, which was right next to the entrance Phil always took, and he waved him down before Phil could continue his walk.  
  
"Oh, hey," Phil said when he saw Dan sitting on the bench. "How's philosophy?"  
  
Dan sighed. "As ever. We're currently studying free will and it's a total mind fu-" he cut himself off, dramatically glancing around.  
  
"Fumble?" Phil offered, laughing.  
  
"Yes, exactly!" They shared a laugh and Dan continued. "I'm kind of guaranteed constant existential crises, and adding that onto the college crisis I'm already having, it isn't a great time."  
  
"I don't really have that problem with film projects," Phil responded, sitting down on the bench next to Dan when he patted the seat. "Although the project I'm currently working on is about horror. I'm not a scaredy-cat until it's 2 in the morning and I'm sitting in a dark, empty flat after spending 7 hours watching clips of horror films."  
  
"Empty? No girlfriend or endearingly strange flatmates?" Dan inquired.   
  
"Neither, although considering how high rent is I should probably get a flatmate at some point so I don't start living off Ramen noodles again," Phil mused, hoping Dan caught onto the _no, but I could use a boyfriend _he was sure he worked in at some point.  
  
"That's a dark period," Dan responded, nodding. "I'm almost to that level at the moment, and - " Dan was cut off by another college student running towards them and calling his name.  
  
"Dan! Do you know where Ari is?" she said breathlessly.  
  
A look of concern immediately crossed Dan's features. "No idea, I thought she was swinging?"  
  
The woman shook her head, and Dan stood up. "I know most of the places she likes to hide out in, so I'll check those out. You make sure she isn't on the playground somewhere, okay?"  
  
The woman left and Phil stood up too. "Can I help?"  
  
Dan's features softened. "That'd be wonderful. Could you check the bushes through there? Sometimes she hides out there." He pointed toward the school and Phil nodded, jogging towards the shrubbery.  
  
Thankfully, he found her pretty quickly. She was sitting behind a bush, crying softly and picking at the grass.  
  
"Ari! Are you okay?" he asked, kneeling. Mister sat down next to Ari and she immediately began to pet him gently.  
  
She blubbered for a moment before saying, "the other boys and girls were being mean. They were calling me names."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry. It's all okay, now," Phil soothed. She seemed to be calming down as she pet the dog. "Those kids were being mean and I'm sorry. But it's over now and you're going to be okay."  
  
"Thank you," she said softly, wiping away her tears.  
  
"Do you want to go see Mr. Dan?"  
  
She nodded and they stood up. Dan was searching around the playground when he saw them walking together, and there was immediate relief on his face.  
  
"Thank God you found her! I was so worried!"   
  
"She was sad because some kids were calling her names," Phil explained. Ari nodded, sniffling.  
  
"I'm so sorry," Dan said to her. "Who were they?"  
  
They talked quietly for a moment before Ari ran off, towards the school (apparently according to Dan's instruction). Dan stood up and muttered, "I'm going to teach those kids a sodding lesson," to Phil, who grinned at Dan's passion. "Thanks for finding her."  
  
"Happy to! I think Mister probably helped out a bit too. Dogs are often a calming presence."  
  
"Quite so," Dan said softly, nodding. Suddenly he looked at Phil with a face of determination, before saying, "do you want to get lunch together, tomorrow?" There was an immediate blush on his face before he followed up with, "Sorry, I know you probably don't swing that way, but I figured it was worth a try. I'd hate to keep seeing you and never follow up with anything, but if you don't want to it's completely - "  
  
"I'd love to," Phil interrupted, before Dan rambled himself into a hole. "I was worried I was giving off straight vibes and I'd have to be the one to ask you out."  
  
"Oh." He laughed and blushed vibrantly, and then the look of determination returned. "Well, I never thought you were straight."  
  
"Oh yeah? What gave it away?"  
  
Dan grinned. "Probably the massive tattoo on your forehead that says 'I love cock'."  
  
"Dan!" Phil protested, swatting lightly at Dan's arm. "Think of the children!"  
  
"Oh don't worry, they don't care. I curse all the time and they don't hear it," Dan assured him.  
  
"Wow. Childhood truly ruined," Phil said with a dramatic sigh.  
  
Dan smiled. "I should get back to the kids, but can I give you my number first? For the sake of coordinating a future lunch date?"  
  
"Definitely." Phil smiled as they exchanged numbers and then Dan returned to the playground with a soft wave goodbye.  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> check me out on tumblr @dnplegs :)


End file.
